Community Corner

Local Nonprofit Lends a Helping Hand to Felines

Rock Creek Cats works to make life easier for strays and ferals.

In 2003, Marc Selinger noticed a colony of cats living behind his condominium.

They had access to food, he said, but many needed to be fixed or placed in homes. So, Selinger took many of them to an animal clinic to get spayed, neutered or inoculated.

"Once I had taken care of the cats in my neighborhood, I thought that would be the end of it, but in 2006, a coworker asked me for some help with feral cats in his neighborhood, and then word kind of spread, and I kept getting more and more requests," he said.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since then, Selinger has operated Rock Creek Cats, a Kensington-based nonprofit devoted to helping colonies of feral and stray cats get fixed and sometimes placed in foster homes.

Cat colonies are made up of two types of felines, Selinger said: stray cats and feral cats.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Strays are already accustomed to being around people, so Selinger traps them and tries to place them with foster families who will care for them until they're adopted (Rock Creek Cats' adoptable pets are viewable on the organization's website).

Feral cats, on the other hand, can't be adapted into homes, so Selinger implements the "trap, neuter, release" system, getting them to clinics and then placing them back into their colonies, making sure they have food and shelter available.

He said this method is preferable to calling Animal Control, which traps and euthanizes feral cats.

"There are literally thousands of feral cats living in the D.C. area, and they reproduce very quickly," Selinger said. "By getting them fixed, we stop the population from getting out of control."

Rock Creek Cats has gotten more than 500 cats fixed since its inception, Selinger said, and that has possibly prevented thousands of kittens from ending up feral.

Rock Creek Cats pays for the cat food and clinic bills with the donations it receives, but much of the financial burden falls on Selinger.

"It’s an expensive hobby, but it’s very rewarding," he said. "I wish I could do more, but I feel like I’m making a difference for the cats."

The organization thrives on the help of volunteers, he said, and Selinger is looking for help building shelters for cats and conducting cat-food drives.

Mary Knight, a Rock Creek Cats volunteer, will be collecting donations of money and cat food for the organization at in Wheaton on Oct. 15 from 2 to 6 p.m.

If you'd like to donate to Rock Creek Cats, you can do so on its website. The organization is also on Facebook and Twitter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here